This week the Boston Symphony Orchestra will premiere Tod Machover’s new work “already and not yet”. The piece blends AI and democracy, using the orchestra as a model for how different groups relate. Machover, the Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media at MIT and director of the Media Lab’s Opera of the Future, cites John Cage’s idea that music should reflect the society we wish to live in, and treats the ensemble as a miniature society.
The innovation lies in a “Live AI” system built at the Media Lab. In the second movement the AI highlights each instrumentalist’s uniqueness, creating an ensemble of soloists; in the third movement it seeks common ground, building sonic bridges across the orchestra and projecting them through extra loudspeakers throughout the hall. The AI layers, combined with electronics crafted in Machover’s studio, dramatize the stress and revival of democracy.
“already and not yet” consists of three movements. “Smash Up” sees strings and winds gradually crowded out by oppressive brass, percussion and electronics, symbolizing democratic oppression. “Wake Up” offers a moment of reflection and regrouping, weaving a thriving melodic and textural presence. “Stand Up” features vigorous interplay among all musicians, expressing a balance between individuality and community. The work thus mirrors the rise, crisis, and renewal of a polity.
Two Media Lab PhD candidates led the technical side: Manaswi Mishra designed and built the AI system, while Ana Schon handled the complex sound mixing for each performance in Symphony Hall. Machover stresses that the AI is not merely a tool but an interactive partner that dialogues with performers, encouraging new ways of playing and listening.
Machover’s earlier work on hyperinstruments, such as the “hypercello” for Yo‑Yo Ma, analyzed a performer’s sound, technique and expressive intent to extend the instrument’s capabilities. Compared with those earlier systems, today’s generative AI excels at detecting audio features and patterns, though it is less adept at deep performance analysis. Nevertheless, the current AI can create immediate, creative augmentations that inspire musicians and composers alike.
Machover hopes audiences will set aside the technology and story, immersing themselves in the music itself. A single melody runs through all three movements: it appears fragmented in the first, hinted at in the second, and becomes the central theme in the third, embodying resolve, hope and purpose. If listeners leave the hall humming that melody, the piece has succeeded.
The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s New Works Fund. Performances run October 22‑24 under conductor Kent Nagano.